Sunday, February 28, 2010

The theme today is "Walking in Faith." Matthew 14:29-33 is the story of Peter and his doubt about the power of God. When Christ told Peter to walk out on the water, he wasn't testing him, he was giving him proof. He proving to Peter that with faith you can do anything! None of us like to fail but if you've done everything necessary to succeed then take a chance and try something you didn't think possible. Look at your life! God has built a bridge to safety over every river, stream and ocean the world presented to you. If you knew how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought. When you DOUBT your POWER you give POWER to your DOUBT. Deep water shouldn't scare you off from fulfilling your purpose...your faith provides you with the ultimate life jacket.

LESSON: If you believe God's promises...then walk out on the water and take his hand. He's got you!

The Kentucky Basketball team that we have all had the pleasure of watching this season is not the same team that showed up to play the Tennessee Volunteers yesterday. As I commented earlier this morning on a Facebook page:

"In order to win games at this point of the season, especially on the road, you have to go into every game as though it could be your last. I think that we have a young team that has a hard time realizing that they cannot go into an atmosphere like yesterday not ready to play. You cannot go into an atmosphere like that and let the home team get that much momentum and expect to pull out a win when you FINALLY decide to start playing late in the second half. Tennessee's players came into the game ready to play and their fans came into that arena ready to cheer their team on to win. In my opinion, and I bleed blue, Tennessee was the better team yesterday."

Oh well, better a loss now than in the SEC or NCAA Tournament's. UK's next game will be against Georgia on Wednesday, March 3rd at 8:00pm on CBS. On Jan. 9th, UK held off the Bulldogs for a 76-68 win in both teams SEC openers. The win also gave the Wildcats their first 16-0 start since 1965-66. For Lexington Insight customers tune into channels 9 or 912.

"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans!" - John Lennon

This quote is actually a verse in John Lennons song "Beautiful Boy." However, considering the trials of the past several days, it seems incredibly appropriate. These past couple of days were nothing as I expected them to be. On Tuesday evening when I got off from work, I had this vision of having two restful days at home leading up to my Neurologist appointment on Friday (more about that in a later post).

On Wednesday morning, I had to get up and take my wife to work. This was planned because I had to take my mom and sister's car back to them. They have been very generous in allowing us to borrow their car for extended amounts of time since we lost ours. Anyway! The plan was to get up, take my wife to work and then come back, get the kids snuggled back in the bed with me, and go back to sleep for a few hours. Then came curveball number one! Both of my children, for whatever reason, woke-up (Lauryn at 4:30am and Ben at 5:15am) with no intention of going back to bed. So I got them dressed, got myself dressed, got them loaded in the car and headed out the door to take my wife to work. I stopped at McDonald's and got a quick breakfast for my wife and I. My children favor the biscuit and gravy from Dairy Queen with scrambled eggs on top, so I decided that I would wait until I got to Richmond and stop and get them breakfast that way I could feed them at my moms. I dropped my wife off at work and was en route to Richmond!

While in Richmond, my dad called and let me know that my step-mom's brother, Larry was in the hospital at the local VA. A few months ago, they discovered that Larry had cancer. I told my dad that I was in Richmond, but as soon as mom and Brandy finished running their errands, they would be brining me and the kids back to Lexington and before they left for Richmond with their car, I would come to the hospital. I asked him what he was going to do with the girls, my step-brother's children which he and my step-mom have custody of. He said that was going to take them to Daniel and let him keep him for the next few days. Insert curveball #2, and this is where my "two days of rest" disappeared. Dad said that he had not yet been able to get hold of Daniel, and might Angenette and I be able to watch the kids. Avoiding the question, I told him to keep trying to get hold of Daniel and rushed off the phone. Of course, he was unable to get hold of Daniel and asked if we could watch the kids. Of course, I did not mind. That is what family is for. Especially in time of need. So, he bought the girls to my house and we had for slightly less that forty-eight hours, we had, COUNT THEM, four children under the age of four-years-old at our house. WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

For the past several weeks Larry had been under the care of Hospice at his home in Paris, KY. His Hospice nurses decided on Wednesday that he needed to go back to the hospital to see if anything more could be done to help with the pain and possibly prolong the inevitable. A few minutes after two o'clock in the morning on Friday, February 26, Larry lost his brief but very courageous battle.

In the interest of time, and because my two-year-old just said, "Dad, I'm hungry! Let's eat!" I am going to have to bring this entry to a close. More on these topics later today:

My doctors appointment from yesterday.

Some quick notes on UK's game today at Tennessee.

My pick for the news stories of the week.

A rundown of the best comic strips of the week because you are never too old to have a good laugh!

Remember to take the time out to hug someone and let them know how much they mean to you! You never know when it might be your last chance!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Many days I awaken to the pitter patter of my two year old, Lauryn's feet coming through the house. Most days, she will wait until her mom has left for work and then she will attempt to "sneak" into bed with me. She will gently pull one of her mothers pillows down to the foot of the bed, pull the covers over her and go back to sleep. Little does she realize that she is not "sneaking" and that I am allowing her to get into the bed. I will lay there long enough for her to go back to sleep and then I will either go back to sleep or get up and begin my day.

Lately, due to a combination of working late and health problems I have found myself sleeping in with her and her 1 year old brother, Benjamyn. My wife and I have been so fortunate to have such amazing children. They are such a blessing in our lives. Ben turned one in December of last year and the week following his 1st birthday, we begin to work on moving him out of our bed. While this transistion was much easier for Lauryn, I am happy to report that after two months, Ben is sleeping in his crib in the room that he and his big sister share and my wife and I have reclaimed our bedroom. :)

As for the health problems... I was recently told that I have Hydrocephalus. I have an appointment with a Neurologist on Friday. I know this may sound crazy, but I am still up in the air as to whether or not I am going to the appointment. Before you starting drawing any conclusions, let me explain, I have spent the better part of the last 9 years sick. I have had my appendix and gall blagger removed. I have had heart surgery. I had a Pericardial Window cut into the sac that holds the fluid that surrounds your heart. I had a liter and a half of fluid built up that had to be removed. They never figured out what caused that. I had a battle with Meningitis and the most sever case of Vertigo that my Ear, Nose, Throat Specialist had seen in his nearly thirty years of diagnostic medicine. So, if I seem a little leery of starting down that path again it is certainly with good reason.

Finally, yesterday would have been my grandmother's 95th birthday! She died six years ago this past December. I miss her just as much today as I did when she first passed.

Well, it is time to get up from here and begin to get myself ready for work. I need to hop in the shower before the kids wake up from their nap. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you here on my blog. More later!

I have noticed recently that several of my friends have blogs that I never knew about. While I am not sure what their purpose is for having a blog, I am going to begin writing a blog just as a release. My purpose here is simply to "vent" my feelings about life, my family, and work. I hope to explore new topics which I might be interested in. I will share those things here with "you." Whoever "you" are I hope that the thoughts that I share here have provided whatever you may be looking for.